{"id":5954,"date":"2025-01-20T01:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5954"},"modified":"2025-01-19T20:32:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T19:32:26","slug":"the-unofficial-beginning-of-the-texas-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5954","title":{"rendered":"THE UNOFFICIAL BEGINNING OF THE TEXAS MISSION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eugene\u2019s diary was a personal document in which he noted some of the happenings of the day and often expressed his sentiments in a way that he could not in public. On this day he had received two letters, each one informing him that Father Telmon had decided, without consulting any of his superiors, to establish an Oblate mission in Texas. Texas had been annexed by the USA four years earlier, and the Bishop of Galveston had met Fr Telmon and asked him to come with a group of missionaries. The Oblates had been given permission by Eugene to work in the USA in Pittsburgh – but Telmon presumed the \u201cUSA part\u201d to include Texas. So, he took it upon himself to bring a group of five Oblates to start the mission: Frs Alexandre Soulerin, Augustin Gaudet, the scholastic Paul Gelot and Brother Joseph Manthe.<\/h3>\n

Letters from the Bishop of Bytown, from Fr. Honorat and from Fr. Telmon. What is happening in Canada is astounding. Here is Fr. Telmon assuming responsibility for the Texas mission, justifying himself on the basis of the faculties I gave him when he was in Pittsburgh. He has set out and he has brought some men of his choice with him…<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Fr. Telmon had certainly received the letter in which it was explicitly pointed out to him that he was by law under the jurisdiction of the Provincial of Canada and he has taken no account of it, apparently because he had committed himself to the Bishop of Texas who was waiting for him in Cincinnati or elsewhere. Worst of all, however, is that in writing to me he makes no effort to legitimize his movements by asking for permission after the event.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Having recovered from his upset, Eugene continues:<\/h3>\n

I shall go no further! Pages could be written on what is happening in those far away lands. Hearing about them, nevertheless, it is wrong for me to be upset. They are all doing their duty perfectly.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Diary, 10 November 1849, EO XXII<\/em><\/h3>\n

REFLECTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cGod writes straight with crooked lines\u201d is an expression we often hear. Father Telmon, with his fiery enthusiasm and talent for preaching, certainly provided God with crooked lines to write on through his missionary adventures in France, Corsica, Canada and in Pittsburgh and Texas! As frustrated and upset as Eugene had been with him at times, he recognised and acknowledged the goodness in this missionary.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eugene\u2019s diary was a personal document in which he noted some of the happenings of the day and often expressed his sentiments in a way that he could not in public. On this day he had received two letters, each … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}